Bookstores

Waking up was easy today. I woke up half an hour before my alarm so I decided to just get up and take my time getting ready. I took a shower and shaved which is a bit awkward to do because I have to use bath water and it is awkward and weird. After that I got dressed and had some breakfast and played stare down with Beebow. I made a PB&J for lunch and then packed some pretzels and a Special K bar. I also found a Dr. Pepper in the fridge that I had forgot I had bought! I packed up my stuff and headed out to class. I get there early usually but it is nice so that I can use the internet or finish up homework. Today I looked at tours for the Dachau camp, though now that I think about it I should have looked at things to do in Paris because that happens first… Oops!

But then Cassandra came in and we talked. Apparently she had a dream about me last night about me opening a package from my mom and it was full of the most random things. I laughed. She probably got that from me saying that yesterday. (Sorry Mom...) I love you sending me things though, especially the heating pad. I will be VERY happy to get that. But we were chilling and then Patrick and his pose came in and we started talking to them. Then class started and we started talking about Charles X and how he was kind of stupid for thinking he could change back to an absolute monarchy after the Revolution just happened to prevent that… So obviously there was another revolution. I was sitting there and I whispered to Cassandra that Patrick and this other girl should totally date and she looked at me and was like, “You just want to play match maker!” Yeah I do.

After class Cassandra was done until 3:30 because she is a lucky duck and her class this week was cancelled. She also paid me for Lyon and an extra thirty so I can pay George for Monaco tomorrow for her. I just thought paid was spelled payed because the French verb is payer I genuinely couldn’t figure out why it was wrong... English is hard. So I feel pretty rich but I am just going to turn around and pay for Barcelona with it. Woot!

So ileft Cassandra and went toward the other building to go to my next class. There was some kind of live guitar music/talk show going on in the block so I stopped to listen and then saw a girl I knew named Darcy sitting on some steps nearby. I went and joined her and ate my lunch. I was very happy to have my soda. Pretty soon it got towards class time so we headed that way. Ran into Patrick on the way and we started talking about places we are going and the bizarre same page reading packets. We had class and during we talked about the idea of if there was a train coming and it was heading towards a track with 6 people on it and you had the power to flip the switch and have it go on another track with only one person on it if you would do it. Everyone said that if you let it hit the six people you were selfish. But I kind of look at it as if you are stupid enough to be walking on the train track when there is a train coming on it, you are pretty stupid so it is kind of your fault. I wouldn’t want to hit the innocent guy who wasn’t being AS stupid. But I said that and everyone told me that I was missing the point. And I did get the point that should you kill 6 if you could just kill one idea but I mean. If it’s your number it’s your number whether its at the same time as 6 other people or not. But I kind of got scolded for trying to make a point. So that was a bit disheartening. Then later when we were talking about the endings of Tolstoys The Devil I said that I thought that neither ending was the best ending and that it should have ended where the two others began because it would have been a more interesting end. Everyone shot me down without hearing my side of the story which made me sad again. I wasn’t in the best mood when class was done. I left the class and then ran into Cassandra and Kelan who asked me why I was sad and I told them that I feel like I don’t really fit in here, which is true I feel like I don’t a lot of the time.

But I feel like I have this problem a lot in my life. I didn’t fit in at Linfield. I really didn’t have a solid group in Middle school that I fit in with or all the way through elementary school because all my best friends ended up moving every year. I feel like it is a really common thing for me like I know I have great friends but I feel like a lot of times in my life I haven’t really fit in. And that makes me kind of sad. But also makes me really glad for the friends that I do have, and especially glad that Spencer and Megan were at WOU to help me find fit in easily because I think that it would have been the same deal at WOU if it wasn’t for them. I dunno maybe it wouldn’t have, but I feel like there is just something in my personality that makes me hard to fit in? I am good at being really good friends with few people but when it comes to a group it is a lot harder for me; which is why I mostly hang out with Cassandra because she and I are similar in that way. Kelan and she reassured me that I do but eh… What else are you supposed to say when someone says that? Maybe I am homesick. I don’t know.

After that I said bye to them and then went to Orange to try and see about internet. After waiting a bit longer to talk to the guy who speaks English there I learned that to get internet through them I have to buy like a box thing to plug into my computer for 50 Euros and then pay to fill it with points or whatever for how much data I use. I said but wait I did this thing through Orange online for internet for 20 Euros without buying stuff. He said oh, so you paid to connect to a hotspot. You can do that too but the internet is pretty bad. And I said yeah it is pretty bad but it is way cheaper and only for a month so I can deal until Jean-Claude gets his internet installed. So I decided to do that.

I went back to school to wait until Cassandra got done with class so we could go get a crepe and decided to sit in the library and Facebook. Pretty soon a girl came in and we sat in silence for a while until she asked what I knew about the George trips. I told her and we talked about them for a bit and then the conversation died. I started reading an article about the government stop or whatever it is called and I asked her what she knew about it. She knew nothing so I emailed her the article and then we talked about it a while. She is from Washington I learned but goes to school in Montana. Her dad is a financial advisor and she said he saw this coming from a mile away. We talked about that for a while and then she called her parents (international calling plan. I was only very jealous.) and got their opinion. We talked after that and then got to how California’s prisons are so full of prisoners that they are letting people go so we talked about that. We talked about some heated stuff and then she told me a story of a family friend of theirs who they found out was raping 14 year old girls and went to prison. We talked about the… Oh man. I forget what it is called but where you can get killed if you did bad crimes? Like legally they like kill you? I forget. But we talked about that too. We probably talked a good hour and pretty soon Cassandra got done with class so I had to leave but we quickly introduced ourselves before we left. Quite a talk for not even knowing each other’s names, but it was pretty cool. I enjoyed it and it made me feel better.

Cassandra, Patrick, and I went to the other building and Cassandra ran up to her locker. On the white board was the sign up for the wine tasting on Friday (free) that I had signed up for but Cassandra couldn’t get in because her email wasn’t working. But luckily some girls had crossed off their names so I signed her up. Then a class in the main hall got out so I played sales girl to try to get people to fill the empty spots. Cassandra and Patrick found it very funny and Sophie who told me to cross her off because she had made better plans thought I was bizarre. (Another not fitting in…) But it was fun and some people did sign up. So you’re welcome. After that we went to Crepes a gogo for a lemon and sugar crepe. They were super busy but we were in no hurry so we waited. After that we went to Book in Bar which is an American bookstore where you can buy books in English (they do have game of thrones but like some of the books have larger font and are split into two books because of it. Weird but kind of cool. ) Cassandra was mildly looking for an Amsterdam guide book but her Uncle lives there and is going to show her around so I don’t really understand why she needs it but maybe she wants some pre-knowledge of it? Who knows. We walked around a bit and looked at their café menu and said we should come here some time. But they don’t have wifi… :-/ Books only. Which is cool but also not… But I think I will send Cassidy there when she comes and I have class because she would like it. It’s pretty chouette. Lots of chouette histories too frère. ;-) Though I think the slang should actually be mec. Eh.

After that Patrick wanted to show us a bookstore he knew that sold Mangas. So we went there. It was pretty cool. It was like Barnes and Noble but like a bit smaller but with lots of books like a real book store not like most of the stores in Aix which are like little dinky things. It was pretty cool and we spent a good amount of time there. I found a copy of my history book there for 20 Euros and every time I use it Madame comments on how nice it is. So I think I will buy a copy for her before I leave. That seems like a nice gift and she doesn’t have it already, or any other books on Provence or Aix.

After that we parted ways and then I came home and did my Provencal history for tomorrow. It was pretty easy. We are going to be talking about the Roman amphitheaters, and I guess there is one here in Aix. So that is chouette. Madame came home and we had chicken and Ratatouille for dinner. We talked about the internet and I gave her back a ten since it was cheaper than anticipated. After we talked about poachers killing elephants because it was on the news, and also about the Marseille soccer team (who lost tonight 3-0). I showed her some of the pictures on my computer of the wedding and of my graduation and things like that as well as a picture of Cassidy, (She thinks you are very beautiful by the way.) and I told her a bit about her. We talked about all the family relations and who is passed away and how well I knew them. I felt a bit touchy about it because both her parents died when she was young so… it was sad. Then we had ice cream bars for dessert, and to my surprise when I bit into it, it was chocolate instead of vanilla. She pulled a fast one on me!

We watched TV for a while as per normal, tonight was the Mentalist. It was a bit bizarre.  She complained that there were too many commercials and I told her there were at least twice as many as in the US, and that when you watch a movie on TV you get 2 hours of movie and an hour and a half of commercials. She didn’t like that idea too much. After that we both got tired and went to bed. 

Evidently, it is very heavy. Imagine carrying your house on your back...

But it is practical at the same time, when I take a walk I am in my house...

But first a bed time story:

The shell of the turtle

Me, I have a shell...

I look a little like a car but I do not go as fast...

In winter I am never cold, I put my head and feet back inside



But if on puts me on my back, I cannot turn over.

I seem a little harsh like this but don't hesitate to cuddle me...

Because under my shell, I am a very sensitive.

Goodnight!